Why it might be a good thing that you didn’t get your first choice of OUSD schools.

Last week, thousands of Oakland parents received offers for an OUSD school placement for the fall. Some children randomly beat out hundreds of others to get a spot in a high-demand school. Others were easily and happily accepted to a lower-demand school. Some kids will be going to their neighborhood school, others commuting across town to a school that is higher-rated, or more convenient for their parents’ work, more diverse than their neighborhood school, or that offers some kind of special program. There are many choices in Oakland, and that has its opportunities and its drawbacks. 

But many parents are somewhat in limbo. Their first, second, maybe even third choices were all taken up by other students, and now they face a choice to either accept the school they’ve been assigned, spend the next six months frantically checking waitlists, or go with a charter or private school instead. 

If you are one of these families, we’re sorry your child didn’t get placed where you’d hoped. The bad news is, rejection and disappointment are no fun. Making big choices for our children is really tough, and being anxious about how they will fare in a new school, especially one you know little about, is to be expected. We all want the best for our kids. 

But the good news is this: there are many more great schools in Oakland than the ones that have long wait lists. In fact, there may even be a silver lining in this dark cloud of your lottery outcome – giving your child the benefits of attending a school where no one had to compete to get in, and shifting your family’s definition of what “the best” really means. 

Your third or fourth or fifth or even sixth choice might just be a great choice for your kid, even if it’s not a seven or an eight on greatschools.org. Why? Every child and school community is different and every school has wonderful aspects that aren’t always obvious to parents (like a fabulous restorative justice program not talked about on the website), especially when that school doesn't have the resources or parent volunteers to publicize them. Many low-demand schools are diverse, free from high-pressure environments, resilient, resourceful, and are the ‘best’ for many kids. Plus, research shows that test score rankings like those on greatschools.org mostly reflect the wealth of the students at a school, rather than the work being done within its walls.

As one parent on our recent panel put it “"Our kids are gonna get more than ABC 123, they're gonna get a community…”

For some examples, check out the schools we currently feature on our website, such as Hoover Elementary and MLK Jr Elementary in West Oakland, and Fruitvale Elementary and Bridges Academy in East Oakland, all of which have above average district test score growth (a better indicator of teacher success) in Math and English-Language Arts.

Want to connect with a parent at the school your child was assigned, if it’s a school you feel you know little about? Fill out our Parent Connection request form and we’ll do our best! 

Learn more about OUSD schools on Oakland Schools Finder, think through your OUSD school decision with these resources, or check out the slides from our winter workshops on choosing OUSD schools.

Sign up here to stay up-to-date on our events and resources. 

Stay calm, stay optimistic, and stay in community.

Best,

Get Schooled Oakland

Choose Community

Tomorrow marks the closing of the OUSD application window for next school year. All around the city, parents are hemming and hawing and hoping. Some are also applying to private and charter schools, hedging their bets if they don’t get accepted into their top choices. 

It’s nice to have choice. But it’s also overwhelming. And having choices naturally makes us think that some options are better than others; that there are winners and losers; and that we must, at all costs, get our kids connected with the winners. 

A few weeks ago, we held an OUSD parent panel, where we were lucky enough to hear from parents who send their children to schools that are not highly exclusive; that don’t have a big price tag or a long wait list. If you believe what school rankings tell you, these are not top choice schools. But, we believe, and we heard, a very different story.

There are many, many great OUSD schools. There are schools, like the ones we are currently highlighting on our website, that have strong data like great test score growth and teacher retention, to support their strength and successes, even if they don’t have a 10 on Greatschools. There are countless others who are beloved by their families, who engage their neighbors, who teach children all sorts of academic, social-emotional, and cultural lessons that can’t always be drilled down to a test score. 

Our district is deeply segregated along racial and economic lines. About 75% of White families in OUSD send their children to one of just 14 elementary schools (there are over 70). That’s a problem that requires big solutions. At the same time, the individual choices of White Oaklanders have a huge impact on perpetuating such segregation.

If you’re ranking schools this week, or thinking of forgoing the process altogether, take a look at our Do’s and Don’ts of Finding a School. If you’re feeling nervous about whether your child will find the right school, remember that there are lots of ways for a place to be right, and there are a lot of things you just can’t learn about a school until you become part of it. 

This month has been an intense one, especially in Oakland Schools. Administration and staff have worked tirelessly, sometimes at odds with one another, to respond to a public health crisis. There is great debate and high emotions about proposed school closures that some say are essential and others say are harmful and unnecessary. These issues may feel daunting, but this is the hard stuff of living in a big, intertwined city with many different needs and priorities. And some of these issues, like school closures, are made worse by the fact that so many members of our city choose to keep their children from the public schools. 

If you have to make a choice, choose community. If you are a parent of a White child, think about how unbelievable the statistic above is, and whether you want to segregate your child from the rest of their wonderful city, or integrate them into it. For all parents, we urge you to fight the narrative that only schools with great test scores serve students well, and to maintain a skeptical eye for which schools have been able to pitch to you, and which others, because of time and resources, have just as much to brag about but fewer chances to do so.

Good luck with your enrollment journey. Let us know how we can support you. And remember to hit the “Submit Application” button!

Best,

Get Schooled Oakland

From our parent panel January 18th:

"I think it's so important for families to understand the role that our schools have in our communities, and how being a part of the community AND being a part of the school can be such an amazing and enriching experience for your family and your children."

" I’ll never forget when my son came home from 1st grade and said ‘Mom, this school is great.  Everyone is kind.  There aren’t bullies there, like my other school.’ “

"The amazing part of the IEP process for me has been how little I had to fight for my student.  They saw the beauty and best in him and just wanted to support him to learn in the best way."

"Our kids are gonna get more than ABC 123, they're gonna get a community where they can learn, historically, what's going on.”